Stuff found by accident . .

When your job is wandering around in old buildings you get used to surprises. Just don't fail to enjoy them.

Foundation Architectural Reclamation

If you thought an architectural photographer would have a big interest in architectural salvage, you'd be dead-on right! My favorite haunt is FOUNDATION located in the West Bottoms of KCMO. My friend Patrick Ottesen runs the place and you won't find a more knowledgeable person when it comes to reclaimed materials.

I enjoy photographing the shop for his website and covering events when I can. It's a perfect match for me!

More brutality . .

Here are a couple of my favorites.


Raymond Nichols Hall at KU in Lawrence.


Spencer Chemistry Building at UMKC.

Brutalism, love it or hate it?

Personally, I love it. If you don't know what Brutalism is, here's a pretty simple definition found on archiseek:

A short-lived architectural movement of the 1960s that set itself in opposition to the picturesque Scandinavian-influenced mainstream of the period, and instead advocated the brutally frank expression of the nature of modern materials, characterized by unadorned concrete and the blunt detailing of joints and openings.

While the architectural movement may have been "short-lived," for obvious reasons buildings in this style tend to last. There are several Brutalist buildings in Kansas City and surrounding communities. Many are university or government buildings.




While this example is not my favorite, I jumped on the chance to shoot it. For me, this style of architecture is pure sculpture with no apologies. It is crustacean-like in form and feeling.

Honest, too. Brutally.

New Coffee Bar?

Is this a new coffee house in south Kansas City? Maybe a new Starbucks?

Nope. It's inside a church.


The remodeled Evangel Temple on 103rd Street as a matter of fact. There seems to be a trend toward this kind of thing in churches. In my day (and I'm not THAT old) people went out to a restaurant after church. These days people are looking for easier access to after-church fellowship and the coffee bar seems to be the most popular option.

This beautiful room is part of a major addition built by Harmon Construction, Inc. for whom I do a lot of post-construction documentary work. They alway do a fantastic job!

20 years ago . .

The Renaissance Festival starts again this weekend. If you were going to the Festival during the mid-80's you know who this is. For the rest of you, this is Lord Lionfire, the grand wizard of Ren-Fest. He wowed the crowds with his "magical" substances such as early gunpowder and ground metals tossed into a fire. And his show was historically accurate, too!

For a couple of years his was the most popular of the traveling acts. Then, like the burst of fire in his magic, he was gone. We never heard why or where he might have gone. You can't really look up "Lord Lionfire" in the phone book, so if anybody knows what happened to him, please, do tell.

c. 1923 High School Building

I traveled out of town last week to photograph this beautiful junior high school building for a National Register of Historic Places nomination. Soon after I took this shot I was met at the front door by the school maintenance supervisor. I commented on how great the building looked and its fantastic condition. He told me he thought the building was old and obsolete and should be torn down and replaced with a new building. I was a bit dumbstruck. Maybe from his perspective it was a lot to handle, but that solution seemed extreme.

Most people don't see the value of old buildings, I guess,